Outer Limits 4x4 Board

have searched and didnt find anythin to answer this

got a simple solenoid battery isolator and rather than hookin it up isoloate, reconect when the ignition is turned off and on i would like to hook it to a toggle switch on the dash. my question is this, does the solenoid draw power on the switching pole full time? or only breifly to "click" it on and off??

say i have the 2 batteries joined asin the toggle switch is in the on position and i park the car for 2 or 3 weeks would their be a permanant current draw by the solinoid to stay engaged? if so how much? enough to cause battery flattening problems over time?

cheers for any help.

if you hook your solenoid switch to permanent power it will cause a flat battery because it will have a constant current draw when the ignition is of the best way to wire this up is to take power from the accessories or ignition on supply through the switch to the solenoid so when the ignition is off the battery's are isolated from each other and there is no current draw from keeping the solenoid engaged.

The solenoid will only draw current when its energized--ie switched on with your toggle switch. It will work fine---BUT you'll need to remember to switch it off when you turn the car off or there is a possibility that the batteries will try to discharge each other.

NIck

Your isolating "solenoid" is actually a mechanical relay; energising the solenoid coil pulls the contacts together to complete the circuit.

A "latching" solenoid needs to have power applied to "pull in" but will then be held by a permanent magnet until power is applied in the reverse polarity to release it. If you can find a relay using this "latching" technique you could build a system (using more sophisticated switching) which will connect and disconnect the batteries exactly as you want.

However, by the time you've wired a "latching relay" circuit it would be just as easy to configure a standard system hooked into your ignition.

Alternatively, if you really want full manual control, why not just use a marine switch under the bonnet?

Scott

have re wired the switch so it pulls power from accessories now. still do the job for what i want, but without needing to worry about killin my batteries if i forget to flick the switch... thanks for the help guys..